The Long Wait

I'm still here...still pregnant...no signs of anything happening anytime soon. Clearly my uterus is a very comfortable place to live 😂

The first few weeks of maternity leave were great. I caught up on sleep after my last week of night shifts. I managed to wash and sort all of the baby clothes. The house was ready for christmas.

I was never concerned about feeling bored in December. We hosted our family on christmas day so had plenty to prepare for. 

We also had our first wedding anniversary to celebrate on new year's eve!

Pregnancy and Christmas

I so wish I could say that being pregnant at christmas is great. I imagine it is if you aren't heavily pregnant. You have the perfect excuse to eat anything and everything (except pate!). For once you don't worry about weight gain, or weight loss come the new year. In fact, this is the first year I haven't made any new years resolutions/set any goals. I figured raising a tiny human was enough of an aim for this year!

However, being so heavily pregnant, meant I found it difficult to fully enjoy this time of year. At risk of sounding like an alcoholic, it isn't easy to have everyone drinking around you, relaxing, whilst you sit there unable to get into a comfortable position due to the giant bowling ball in your abdomen.

Not to mention the mess set off my pregnancy OCD big style! 

At one point I had to excuse myself to just go lay down and enjoy some peace and quiet for an hour. A nap would have been great, but since when were pregnant women able to sleep when they need it?! 😂

I feel like a horrible human for saying these things but I was just so overwhelmed and exhausted. It was a shock to leave my quiet bubble of pregnancy plans for the week of celebrations.

I love my family so much. I always enjoy anytime spent with them. So to feel this way was a shock to myself. Hormones have a lot to answer for! It does make me more excited for next year though, as I know I will fully enjoy it, especially watching our son experience it all for the first time. So we will be hosting everyone again. My husband made an incredible dinner for everyone.

As our first anniversary approached, I was filled with a sense of disappointment that it would not be how I imagined it to be. You always expect to spend the day out together, maybe book a hotel somewhere, enjoying good food and drink.

As I turned 37 weeks pregnant on the 27th december, we thought it unwise to travel too far away from home. We opted for a local pub/restaurant and a night in.

A year ago!

What I thought would be a disappointment, ended up being the perfect day. We had breakfast out, followed by a lovely dog walk. Then lunch at the restaurant followed by a quiet night in. 

I feel asleep on the sofa at 10:30pm, with my husband promising to wake me before midnight. Despite his best efforts, he also fell asleep! Fortunately I woke up at 11:59pm, quickly changed to BBC for the fireworks and woke him up! We then stood in our garden playing with sparklers left over from our wedding last year. 

It was perfect because it was just about us and our little family. We had a relaxed day with our dogs and amazing food. Pretty much just how our wedding was; relaxed with our pups making an appearance, good food/drink and excellent company.

I must say, it was a refreshing change to not be hungover on new years day!

Not resolutions but things to remember for the year ahead

The Final Month

They're not kidding when they say the last month of pregnancy is the longest! Midwives tell you that you are 'Term' from 37 weeks. Which means if baby is born anytime from then it is safe. As they allow you to go up to 2 weeks overdue, you are sat around waiting for 5 weeks!! 5 weeks!!!!

It's basically a form or torture. Every twinge you think, 'Is this it?' to find no....no it is not...

Due to a sudden growth spurt (ironically I thought my bump growth had slowed, it was actually growing twice the speed it should have) We ended up with a growth scan. We weren't concerned and looked forward to seeing Little Man again. Well....turns out he's not so little! At the first scan they estimated 8lbs 4oz. Then 12 days later (thanks to a long walk that lulled him into such a deep sleep he didn't move for 4 hours) they re-scanned me and estimated 9lbs 12oz 😲 

My poor vagina! No wonder I haven't gone into labour yet, My body doesn't want to go through it with a baby that big! 

My plans for a homebirth have now gone out of the window. It's not advised due to his size. The midwives worry that he may get stuck halfway out. Not ideal when you live 20-30mins away from the hospital. As gutted as I am to have my plans changed (I hate having plans changed and always need to visualise events before they happen, in order to get my head around them and remain calm) I know it's for the best. I was initially filled with a sense of fear at having to give birth in hospital, and the size of our baby. But thanks to encouraging words from other mums, I'm feeling better about it.

With 1 week left until my due date, if baby boy doesn't make an appearance the hospital will induce me, rather than risk him growing any larger. Although I still worry how big he'll get with another week to grow!

Their best advice to help Not so Little Man engage and start labour off, is to bounce on a ball to open my pelvis.....pretty certain bouncing on balls with my legs spread is what got me into this situation in the first place 😅

On my birthing ball!

Cue me bouncing all hours of the day and hiking up lots of hilly walks with the dogs....the latter not as easy with a 10lb baby in your uterus. I would normally walk 4 miles in an hour, and now find it takes me at least one and a half hours to manage just shy of 3 miles. Again another reminder of how much my body has changed.

1 year ago vs 39 weeks pregnant

Let's be honest. A baby comes when it is ready. No amount of bouncing or walking (come to it curry, pineapple and sex are also included in this category) will make it come any earlier.

So for now, I will continue to listen to my hypnobirthing tracks and remain calm, whilst I wait for my body to go into labour, once it is ready. Should he not appear in the next week, I will still remain calm knowing the hospital will take great care of my baby and I.

I'm excited to meet the new love of my life and inundate everyone with photos from my new camera! 

For now, I'll get in as much practice as possible with the pups as my subjects.